How Do You Earn Money From Pinterest?

If you thought Pinterest was just a great place for building your dream home and finding your next DIY project, you need to think again.

While Pinterest is probably the best tool for those things, it’s capable of so much more.

If used correctly, Pinterest is actually a powerful way to drive traffic (or get people to go) to websites, but most people don’t understand how it works.

There are two basic ways to earn money from Pinterest: 1. Get traffic (email subscribers/customers) to your own blog 2. Manage Pinterest accounts to get traffic to other people’s websites as a Virtual Assistant (VA)

If you want to make money for spending time on Pinterest, you must learn how to use Pinterest to direct traffic. If you don’t have your own money-making blog yet, then you’ll also need to learn how to help others as a Pinterest Virtual Assistant. Thankfully, both are pretty easy, especially if you already have an understanding of how Pinterest works.

If you work as a Pinterest VA, your primary goal will be to send lots of new people to a business’s website. This could be an online business or even a bricks-and-mortar business. The owner will love you for all the potential new customers, and you’ll get paid for spending your time creating eye-catching images and finding awesome pins.

This is exactly how you could start a business and get paid to be on Pinterest.

What Does A Pinterest VA Do?

Whether you want to learn how to use Pinterest to drive traffic to your own website or to your client’s, you’ll do a variety of things on Pinterest, such as:

Set up Pinterest business accounts

Design pins

Upload pins

Write pin descriptions

Schedule pins

Find group boards to pin on

Review Pinterest data

And of course, lots of pinning!

You might be wondering: Can’t anyone who knows how to use Pinterest be a Virtual Assistant then? And don’t most businesses hire one person to manage a bunch of social media accounts?

If businesses really want drastic results, they need someone managing their Pinterest account who understands not only how to use Pinterest, but how to use Pinterest for business.

And that’s the key skill many general virtual assistants or social media managers are missing.

Why Is It Important To Specialize In Pinterest Skills?

Because Pinterest is not really a social media platform, like Facebook or Twitter.

Pinterest is really a search engine…like Google.

Think about how you use Pinterest.

You don’t go to Pinterest to socialize.

You go to Pinterest and type into the search bar to find something specific. It might be “cute cupcake ideas,” or “how to save money for Christmas” Pinterest is a place you go to find new ideas, inspiration (or humor).

Pinterest is a search engine.

So managing someone’s Pinterest account for business takes a unique set of skills. You have to understand how Pinterest works so you can get your pins to show up for relevant searches.

These skills are unique, but you can learn them rather easily and implement in just one month.

How do I know?

I did it. And it was actually much easier than I thought.

It wasn’t something I figured out on my own though. The way I use Pinterest for my personal use is very different than how I use it as a virtual assistant. I needed someone to teach me the ins and outs of Pinterest for business, and I couldn’t have done it without taking a good course first.

How I Stumbled Upon Earning Money On Pinterest

Browsing Pinterest was a fun pastime for me. Before kids. And definitely before deciding to stay at home with my kids full-time plus starting an online business.

So when I discovered that Pinterest could be a traffic generator, I knew that was the one for me. You mean I could spend more time on Pinterest as part of my business and working hours? And it would actually help me earn more money? Umm, yes, please!

I shared this discovery with one of my mentors and virtual assistant clients, and this awesome guy saw my passion and took a risk. He decided to let me create and manage a Pinterest account for his business. We agreed I could implement what I learned from a Pinterest course as part of my virtual assistant responsibilities.

I was stoked and dove right in. I took the course over a few days, created my to do’s, and got to work. Neither this client nor I were expecting a gigantic increase in traffic right away, but over the following 6 months or so, we were both hoping to see an increase in the number of visitors to his website.

Pinterest Traffic Results

To both of our surprise, it only took one month before thousands of new people were going to his website.

After two months, more than 3,800 new people went to his website. He’d been active on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube for over a year, yet within just a couple of months, 94% of his visitors referred from a “social media” source were coming from Pinterest. Here’s a screenshot of the data:

By the third month, over 7,600 new people were going to his blog. It was incredible.

And the best part? All I did was what the course told me. It was as simple as following the steps.

My client was baffled and ecstatic. And so was I!

This wasn’t a fluke either. Pinterest is increasing traffic to websites of all different kinds of businesses, from self-published authors to big-timers like Side Hustle Nation, whose traffic increased 25x in just 60 days thanks to Pinterest.

With results like this, it’s no wonder businesses are specifically looking to hire Virtual Assistants who understand how to use Pinterest for a business. It’s hard to turn away the potential of thousands of new customers every month, right?

How to Use Pinterest for Business

I would never have been able to bring thousands of new visitors to my client’s website each month had I used Pinterest the way I used it for my personal use. If you want to ultimately make money from Pinterest, either by getting traffic to your own site or directing traffic to a virtual assistant client’s site, it’s critical to know the difference.

Here are some of the key things I learned to increase traffic on Pinterest:

How to set up a business profile

The importance of branding your profile, boards, and pins

How the size, shape, and colors of images make a difference

How to use Canva to create beautiful pins

How to write catchy and effective pin descriptions

Which keywords to use and where to use them

How to use rich pins

How to use secret boards

How to use a scheduling tool

Where to find the best group boards

Obviously, explaining all of that would take forever. And that’s why there are courses for it.

Pinfinite Growth Course

The course I took was Pinfinite Growth by Melyssa Griffin. Admittedly, I experienced a little sticker shock at the price at first, but I watched her webinar and instantly knew this girl knew what she was talking about. She was making bank as a blogger, and her blog had tons of traffic via Pinterest. I liked her teaching style in the video too, so I knew it’d be a good course for me.

Being the frugal person I am, I knew if I spent the money on the course, it wouldn’t be one of those courses or books that ended up sitting there unread. If I was going to spend money like that, I was definitely going to take the course and use what I learned.

I was also determined to prove that Pinterest really could increase my client’s blog traffic–even though he was already getting 100,000 visitors per month.

And to be frank, I don’t like to be wrong 🙂

The results? Based on the traffic stats I shared above, I’d say it was totally worth it.

Pinfinite Growth was video-based, in-depth, and easy to follow. The bonus materials were helpful, especially the private Facebook group. I’ve gotten all my questions answered there. I went through the course at my own pace (usually after my kiddo went to bed), and I have lifetime access to all updates.

But the best part was that I simply copied what I learned and saw incredible results within just one month.

I would recommend it to anyone who wants to know how to use Pinterest to increase website traffic.

If you’re thinking about getting started as a Virtual Assistant, or you’re not sure how to weave Pinterest into your existing Virtual Assistant business model, there’s another course to consider that is geared toward you.

And Kristin started as a Pinterest VA years ago and had great success. (Gina even hired Kristin to do Pinterest for her blog.)

Both of these ladies are awesome individually, so I’m glad they teamed up to create a course specifically designed for anyone interested in becoming a Pinterest Virtual Assistant.

Although I have not taken this course yet, I follow what these ladies do closely and recommend it because I believe it could help people who want to make money from home. After all, I was in those same shoes not long ago. It is also a less expensive alternative to Pinfinite

Growth, and I know not everyone is ready to spend nearly $400 on a course.

Which Is The Best Pinterest Course?

So you know making money from home + Pinterest sounds too good to be true, but which course is right for you?

If you have the time and money, take both.

If you have to pick just one, here’s how I’d break it down:

Become A Pinterest VA Today

Become a Pinterest VA Today is probably best for beginners in the Virtual Assistant world because the modules are more focused on what your role would be like, how to start your business, and how to find clients. These things are not included in Pinfinite Growth.

Pinfinite Growth

Pinfinite Growth is probably best for those who want to deep dive into how to use Pinterest to increase website traffic. Those who are interested in the Pinterest VA route, this would be the recommended course if you already have a solid understanding of the virtual assistant business.

Work Smarter, Not Harder

The moral of the story is you can earn money from Pinterest if you learn how to use it as a traffic-generating tool.

Learning to use Pinterest for business has unlimited potential because the steps can be replicated for so many different businesses.

You can use Pinterest to get more traffic and grow an email list through your own blog or you can become a Pinterest Virtual Assistant to help clients grow their businesses.

So if you are looking for a way to make money from home and you like Pinterest, this may be a perfect side hustle for you. Taking a course like Pinfinite Growth or Become a Pinterest VA Today will teach you the exact steps you need to follow to start using Pinterest like a boss.

I also believe finding work you enjoy is worth the investment because it is something you’ll stick with. You can use your new Pinterest skills to help others and make money yourself. And that’s working smarter, not harder.

We all have a little light to shine in the world. How will you let your light shine?

Cheers to Common Cents & Your Success,

P.S. If you’re interested in becoming a Virtual Assistant, but not sure Pinterest is your thing, check out this freebie from Gina Horkey with 150+ services you can offer as a VA.

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